Leave the apps out of the equation, and you'll find that the iTunes store is actually full of porn. Chock full of porny, porny porn. I just spent a dirty half-hour plumbing the depths. (Sorry, Ziff-Davis IT department.)

Of course, I personally don't want a media landscape that's entirely dumbed down to what I think is safe for my four-year-old daughter to watch. I'm an adult. I want to be able to guide my kid's viewing, while being able to watch, listen to, and read adult material.

Let's start with audiobooks. Perhaps Steve Jobs believes that out of sight is out of mind. Still, the promotion for Penthouse's Bend, Lick, Insert, Send with its "mind-bending erotic audio stories" is pretty explicit. Never mind the tag lines for Confessions of a Porn star, Sapphic Seduction, or Dark Desires. There are parts of the promotional copy I can't even quote here—and they're all available freely through iTunes.

Dipping into the TV section, have you watched Showtime's Secret Diary of a Call Girl? I have—after my daughter has gone to bed, thank you very much. It's a hilarious, well-written sitcom/drama where Billie Piper spends quite a bit of time replaced by a stark naked body double.

If you're a connoisseur of trashy softcore films, there's a lot to love in the iTunes store. Take Poison Ivy 4, which is unrated and promises to be an "erotic thriller." I put that in quotes for a reason. Snapdragon is an "erotic psychological thriller," which seems to outdo Poison Ivy with ... psychology.

Then there's the unrated version of The Center of the World, which is actually a really good movie about emotionally stunted people who can't connect. In that film, however, actress Molly Parker does something with a lollipop which, once again, I can't describe in this article.

Music can be sexy. But is any music actually porn? I don't know if you've heard Donna Summer's 1975 hit "Love to Love You Baby," but there are more than 50 versions of it on the iTunes store, and it's pretty porny. Trent Reznor once got in trouble for complaining about the iTunes Store's policies, and admittedly, the guy's song "Closer"—sold by iTunes, natch—does say that he wants to ... whoops, can't put that in this story. And I'm sure Marilyn Manson, with 23 albums in the store, would be flattered to be called porn. But don't do that. It just encourages him.

That's not all! Podcasts can be porncasts with the right search terms in the iTunes store. The "porn++ netcast" promises an "in-depth feature review" of today's porno hits. You can also ogle "The GoGo Show" and "Temptress Video Magazine," which promises "some of the sexiest posses you will ever see." I think they mean "poses," but posses would probably be just as good.

Oh, and did I mention the iPhone has a Web browser? Porn companies such as Pink Visual design their XXX sites especially for the iPhone's browser, and the independent Sex App Shop uses the browser's technology to deliver what appear to be hardcore porn apps right to your phone's home screen.

//Related Articles

If Apple wants to slap NetNanny on the entire iPhone ecosystem, that's its right. But that's not what it's doing. Instead of focusing on the iPhone's parental controls—which are actually pretty goodit's knocking a token number of smaller developers' apps off of the App Store and saying it has made a nod to the decency police.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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